Bob and Gail's Next Adventure: Back to the States

It was a bit on the choppy side (2-3 ft seas) for the first several hours but down to a gentle chop – maybe 1-2 ft seas. The best part of the day was the 3 dolphins that swam with us for a while. We knew there were dolphins in the Bahamas but we had not seen any. The water is so clear I could see them them very clearly. Of course as soon as I stopped filming and turned to tell Bob how beautiful they were, they were gone. They seem to love attention!

After we anchored in the bay at Great Sale the water lapped against the side of the boat and we were glad we don’t sleep in the V-berth. In the morning the water was nearly as calm as it could be. We hope it stays that way the rest of the day and tonight as we’ll be sleeping in the open.
We creep out of the anchorage at 8:10 so as not to “wake” the 11 sailboats and 1 power “go fast” boat we leave behind. As we travel, it is surprising how many boats there are along the way. Sailboats, go fast boats, and an occasional trawler. Then we are alone – not a boat to be seen. There is one island – Sandy Cay – visible in the distance as we anchor for the night.

This is a panorama of our anchorage

We are in 9 feet of water on Little Bahama Bank. The water is is a little bumpier than the night before at Great Sale Cay, but not much. It usually quiets down at night so we look forward to a quiet night.

7 PM – the winds pick up and it gets choppy

10 PM – the boat is bouncing around and literally plunging down after a big swell hits us. Everything is tied down or in a safe place so we decide to try to sleep.

12 midnight – no sleep – we keep thinking it will quiet down as there is a quiet spell before another big swell hits, again and again.

2:00 AM – Bob suggests we go ahead and leave as we aren’t sleeping anyway.

2:30 AM – Anchor is up and we are underway – much smoother going WITH the swells rather than having them HIT us!

3:00 AM – I go below and get an hour and a half of sleep

4:30 AM – I relieve Bob and he actually gets an hour and half of sleep as well! He usually doesn’t sleep when we are underway.

11:00 AM – We dock at Ft. Pierce City Marina, tired but pleased.

Our crossing was not what we pictured, but all in all not bad considering we hadn’t intended a night crossing. There were several large ships out there (cargo and cruise) but they were well lit, it was clear night, and our radar picked them up as well, so we had no problem staying out of their way. It was a 3/4 moon and the heavens were bright with stars. When the sun came up, the pleasure/fishing/go fast boats appeared in the distance. They disappeared again into the horizon before we even got close. The sunsets and sunrises were spectacular and I even saw the green flash from Memory Rock – of course I didn’t have the camera out that night!

Here are a few snaps of our crossing:

Great Sale Anchorage